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Sermon: The Fifth Sunday of Easter (A) - 22nd May 2011
St Aidan's Anglican Church West Epping 8:30 am
Readings: Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 17-18; 1 Peter 2:11-25; John 14:1-14
I was surprised to discover that today’s gospel reading comes from John 14. If you have been to many Anglican funerals, as I have, you will know this is often the reading at that service. I am used to preaching it in the context of a funeral and because of that I often feel I am wasting my time. One of the problems of preaching at a funeral is “Who is going to listen?” People are either distracted by their grief or entertained by amusing anecdotes about the deceased. So I wonder if it really is the right opportunity for preaching. Is a funeral the right time to consider such a significant passage from John’s gospel? Easter was such a short time ago so we have the advantage today, in the absence of any grief and being so close to Easter to consider the implications of this passage. It has been so influential in the history of the church. As a child I remember singing a song which was based on John 14. It goes, “I’ve got a mansion, just over the hill top in that bright land where we’ll never grow old.” But what were we singing about? What is the message of John 14? In fact, this passage is another attempt by Jesus to explain to the disciples his death and resurrection. By this stage in Jesus ministry he and the disciples were in extreme danger. There were plots to kill Jesus. Even going as close to Jerusalem as Bethany, a few hours walk away, was a dangerous move. The disciples believed the climax might happen there. But then Jesus insisted on celebrating the Passover in Jerusalem itself, the most dangerous place in all Israel for Jesus to be. It placed Jesus under the noses of the very people, the powerful people who were committed to destroy him. And if that wasn’t bad enough, when Jesus went to Jerusalem, he insisted on going each day to the Temple, to teach – thus putting himself in the line of fire. So it is in that context, with all of its danger and fear, that Jesus then told the disciples that he was leaving them. You can imagine the shock, you can imagine the panic that statement would generate. Having led the disciples into the heart of the battle, Jesus then announced he would be leaving them. So it is not surprising that the disciples seem to miss all that Jesus had to say. Al they talk about is the fact that Jesus was going. They spend no time discussing where Jesus is going and what he is about to do, and those are the things we need to concentrate on today.
First, Jesus talks about “my Father’s house.” What is God’s house. The obvious answer is the Temple. That is God’s house. But what does God’s house represent? For the Jews, the Temple was the place where God dwelt. His presence was in the Temple. So you could go to the Temple to meet with God. So the Temple is the place where Heaven and Earth meet. Now I don’t know what you think heaven is, but some people think of heaven as something a long, long way away, in a far flung galaxy. Heave is a remote place, a distant place where God lives. If you think like that then you’ve forgotten the first lesson of Genesis. The opening line of the Bible begins with “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Here the idea is that heaven and earth are all part of creation. In that sense, they are a unity. Both are part of God’s creation. Now after the fall there was a separation between heaven and earth, yet the Temple still functions as a meeting place for both. Its where heaven and earth still meet but as a part of the one creation. But Jesus is saying more than that. He is talking of the preparation of a place for us within that Temple. This is what his impending death and resurrection will achieve for us.
Now that may not sound attractive. It sounds like living in a museum. But that’s not the story Jesus is telling. When he speaks of God’s house he has in mind the large country houses that were common in the Ancient World. They were very large buildings, almost on the scale of a palace. They had many rooms. They were designed to house a large extended family. Surrounding the house would be the fields that were farmed. Closer to the house would be the gardens, the orchards and the vineyards. These houses were self-sufficient, producing all the food the family needed. But in fact, the house was the dwelling place of a community. As well, these houses were places of safety, with high walls and strong gates. People might work in the fields by day, but they came within the walls at night. They were a place of refuge, for the weak, the ill, the aged and the frail. This is the kind of place Jesus had in mind. This is the kind of place that was well known to the disciples. So Jesus says, “My Father’s house has many rooms.” “I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus is promising each one of us a place in God’s house as well as preparing the way for us.
Have you ever had the experience of turning up at a hotel and they don’t have your reservation? It won’t be like that. We won’t be beating on the gates of heaven calling out, “Remember me! Remember me!” It’s nothing like that. Our rooms have been prepared, the way has been prepared, Jesus has gone ahead of us making all things ready for us.
But I think Thomas misunderstood Jesus’ meaning. I think Jesus is saying he is going to prepare a place for us, and he is returning to us to take us there. He is doing everything, he is making all the plans. If we want to know what is going on we simply just need to look to Jesus. This is why Jesus cay say, “You know the way to the place where I am going.” I think Jesus means, you know me, and that’s all you need to know to get you to where you ought to be. But Thomas missed the point. I think he is still back at Jesus’ announcement that he was leaven the disciples and going somewhere else. So here was an opportunity for Thomas to vent his distress. “We don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?” Perhaps in his distress, Thomas was trying to make everything too complex, when the answer was very simple.
Jesus response was “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” By his life and his teaching, Jesus has revealed what we need to know about God, about ourselves, about our future, about life beyond death. But perhaps it was because of the distress they were in, the disciples felt they needed more. Phillip said, “Show us the Father.” Perhaps he had in mind what Moses saw in Exodus 33. There God placed Moses in the cleft of a rock and let his glory pass by. Perhaps Phillip felt their current situation warranted an even greater revelation of God at that time. But again Jesus pointed them back to himself. What more did they need to see? What’s more, Jesus’ point is that Jesus had been doing the work of his father, the caring for the sick, the teaching, the feeding of the crowds – all of this was the work of God revealed to these disciples. By simply looking to Jesus, by trusting Jesus, that would be more than enough to secure our future in Jesus. Yet this is when faith is tested, not in the easy life, not in the happy times, the times of celebration, but in disappointment, in loss, in tragedy and in death itself, that is when faith is tested. That is when we ask if faith is enough, if Jesus is enough for the things that attack and disturb us. And Jesus answers these big questions so simply by saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Even revelations from heaven, even hosts of heavenly choirs, would add not one jot more to the revelation of God we have in Jesus. No matter what we face, the simple answer is that Jesus has prepared a place for us in that wonderful reconciliation between heaven and earth. All that we need to know of God has been revealed in the life and ministry of his son. We are left with the greatest hope, and the greatest challenge to believe his words.